he Hyolmo are a Tibetic ethnic group who live in the Himalayan zone north and north-east from Kathmandu to the south of the Helambu mountains. The Helambu area is the central area of the traditional Hyolmo population.[1] This mainly falls into the Nuwakot and Sindhupalchok districts of the Bagmati zone as well as the Rasuwa district. There are also populations of Yolmo speakers in Lamjung,[2] Ramechhap (where they are known as Kagate) and Ilam.[3] This page gives a brief summary of research on Hyolmo and a bibliography of work relating to Hyolmo and the related Kagate group.

In the 1980s Hyolmo speakers began using the name 'Helambu Sherpa' to align themselves with the more prestigious Sherpa people of the Solukhumbu District.[4] This name is still used to refer to Hyolmo speakers, and their language, including for the ISO 639-3 language codes.[5] Today, speakers are actually less likely to refer to themselves as 'Sherpa' and instead use the term 'Yolmo'.[6]

There is an on-going discussion amongst Yolmo people as to how to spell 'Yolmo' in Latin script. Some speakers prefer 'Yolmo' while others prefer 'Hyolmo' or 'Yholmo.' The presence of the 'h' in the name is to indicate that the word is spoken with low tone. Researchers including Desjarlais and Clarke both use 'Yolmo' while the Nepal Aadibasi Janajati Mahasang (Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities) uses 'Hyolmo'[7], and for this reason the standard on this page is also Hyolmo.

It is believed by some that the name Helambu is named after potatoes and raddishes.[8][9] In the Hyolmo language Hey means Potato and in Yolmo lahbu is radish. This etymology is now considered spurious, 'Helambu' is a Nepali derivation from the original 'Yolmo language'.[10]

Yolmo people speak a language of the Central Bodic or Tibetan language group of the Tibeto-Burman languages language family. Although it has a high level of lexical similarity to Sherpa (61% lexical similarity) and Standard Tibetan (66% lexical similarity), there is enough difference for it to be considered a language in its own right.[11] Within Tibeto-Burman, it is often classed within a group that also includes Kagate and Kyirong. This group is comprised of several dialects according to Tournadre:[12] Kyirong (Lende), Kagate, Tsum, Langtang and Yolmo (Helambu Sherpa). There is an extensive dictionary of Yolmo by Hari, A.M. and Chhegu Lama from 2004 as well as a shorter grammatical description (Hari 2010). According to Tournadre et al. (2009:22):

"Yolmo is another Tibetic language spoken in Sindhupalchok and Nuwakot districts. It is often referred to as “Helambu Sherpa” by the Nepalese people. However, as demonstrated by Anna Maria Hari (2004: 699), Yolmo is closely related to Kagate, and is not a Sherpa dialect."

There is very little in the way of descriptive work on Kyirong, save for a grammar by Brigitte Huber (2005) that also includes historical annotations. Hildebrandt and Perry (2011) note that the Gyalsumdo language variety spoken in the Manage district of Nepal shows strong similarities to Kyirong, as well as Nubri, and would therefore likely be classed in the "Kyirong-Kagate" group.

Below is a bibliography of work on Hyolmo people and language listed by first author. The papers are in English, unless otherwise stated. There are also articles about Kagate people and language. Please add any other resources you are aware of. Where possible, links to the original publication will be added, however many older words are difficult to come by.

(1983). "The great and little traditions in the study of Yolmo, Nepal." Contributions on Tibetan language, history and culture. E. Steinkellner and H. Tauscher (eds). Vienna, Arbeitskreis fuèr Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, University of Vienna: 21-37.

(2004). “The Story of How bla-ma Karma Chos-bzang Came to Yol-mo”: A Family Document from Nepal. In Shoun Hino and Toshihiro Wada (eds) Three Mountains and Seven Rivers, p. 581-600. New Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.

(2009). "In the place, where angels live (Musical ethnographic expedition in Nepal, 2007, part 1)." in Siberian ethnological expedition: Comparative research of the process of transformation of intonational cultures of Siberia and Nepal, pp. 104-125. Novosibirsk: NGK. [in Russian]